New Zealand 2007

We spent the first couple days wandering around
Auckland, New Zealand's
capital and largest city. We stayed fairly close to
downtown, so we could simply walk downtown and explore.

Next we headed north, stopping briefly at
Takapu, where there's
a large gannet colony. Bugs may have loved the overpowering
smell of guano, but we weren't quite as crazy about it.

We stayed for a couple days at Paihia, on the
Bay of Islands.
We took a day trip on a small ferry to Russell, visited the
Stone Store (the oldest stone building in New Zealand) and
visited the grounds where the
Treaty of Waitangi was signed.

Then we headed south to do some
black water rafting. This involved climbing down into a cave,
looking at glow worms and jumping backwards over waterfalls.

It figures that the day we decided to spend hiking
had the worst weather. Later we found out that we were on the edge of a large
cyclone. The cyclone gave the north end of the island its biggest floods of the
last century. The Stone Store we visited a few days earlier was flooded as well.

While it poured outside, the next day we stayed inside and watched
some glass blowing.

Rotorua means both adventure and
hydrothermal activity. So we did the "swoop", which is a cross between
a giant swing and bungy jumping, looked at boiling mud and mud volcanoes,
then finished with a dip in mud baths.

The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at near
Hawke's Bay was on a vineyard. We explored Napier, the "Art Deco
Capital", and the wineries in the surrounding countryside.

The capital of New Zealand is Wellington.
It was windy and threatening when we were there, but the drive
along the coastline was beautiful. Wellington is on the southern tip
of the North Island.

Next we hopped on a ferry to take us to the
South Island. We wandered through the Marlborough region where we
stopped at a winery for lunch.

The most gorgeous day of the trip we spent tramping (i.e. hiking) through
Abel Tasman Park. We took a water
taxi part way up the coast then walked along a trail through fern trees
and along several beaches.

We spent our last few nights in Nelson,
a cute little town in the middle of an arts and crafts community.